Tilbury starts formal consultation for its expansion project

The Port of Tilbury, UK, has announced the start of the formal statutory consultation on 19 June to seek further views from local communities and other stakeholders on its project known as TILBURY2.

The Port of Tilbury, part of UK-based multimodal ports owner and operator Forth Ports, is the nearest deep-water port to London and one of the largest ports in the UK. Over the past two decades, it has experienced a significant throughput increase and has been expanding rapidly. Now the port estimates that the cargo volume could potentially double in the next 15 – 20 years. The port’s recent survey indicated that 88% of Tilbury’s tenants want to expand. The construction of TILBURY2 would support this increasing demand.

TILBURY2 will be built on a 152 acre site, which was part of the former Tilbury Power Station, 1km to the east of the current port. With the closure of the power station, part of the site became available for redevelopment and was purchased by the port specifically to build a new terminal.

TILBURY2 will act as a satellite of the Port of Tilbury and will include a new deep water jetty in the river Thames as well as road and rail links to improve access to the new site. It would comprise a Ro-Ro terminal for importing and exporting containers and trailers as well as a facility for importing and processing bulk construction materials to support demands from the UK’s building sector. In the northern part of the site there is land available for the potential storage of a variety of goods, including cars.

The port undertook an informal non-statutory consultation exercise earlier this year and the upcoming formal statutory consultation seeks views from the local communities to help further refine the TILBURY2 proposals. These opinions will be reviewed in finalising the project before it is submitted to the Secretary of State for Transport for development consent in the autumn of 2017.

Commenting on the formal consultation events, Peter Ward, Commercial Director at the Port of Tilbury, said: “Our plan to create a new port in Tilbury is an exciting opportunity for not only the port and the local area but for our customers who are seeking more space to expand their own businesses. TILBURY2 has the potential to create jobs and support the expansion and growth of the Thurrock area.”

The formal statutory consultation exercise runs from 19 June until 28 July 2017. Exhibition details can be found in the TILBURY2 official press release.